1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates, first of all, to a motor vehicle door with a door lock unit located on the edge side of a door body with mechanical latching elements, such as a latch and ratchet, with a preferably electrical opening drive for unlatching the latching elements, with a mechanical inside actuating element for emergency mechanical unlatching of the latching elements and which is mechanically connected to the door lock unit, and with an electrical inside actuating element for normal operational triggering of the opening drive for unlatcing the latching elements, which is connected by electrical-control technology to the opening drive of the door lock unit. The subject matter of the invention is also the door lock unit itself and a motor vehicle locking system using such a door lock unit. In this connection, it is noted that the term motor vehicle door also includes a rear door of a station wagon or a hatch of a so-called hatchback type vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention concerns a motor vehicle door, a door lock unit and a motor vehicle locking system based on the use of a door lock unit with mechanical redundancy. These systems have been known for a long time, but have become much more important only in recent years (DE 29 49 319 A1 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,789; DE 199 44 968 A1; EP 0 589 158 A1). Reference is made to the prior art explained here also for its complete disclosure content, and the disclosure content of these citations is made the disclosure content of this application by reference.
In a system with electric locks with mechanical redundancy, an operator who is located inside the motor vehicle must be able to open the electrical lock by actuating an electrical inside actuating element in normal operation. However, in an emergency when the electricity fails, the operator must be able to undertake emergency opening also by means of a mechanical inside actuating element.
The tendency is to form structural units for reasons of production engineering and installation engineering. Here, it must be considered in motor vehicle locking systems that, normally, the motor vehicle door, by means of a conventional partition, on the one hand, has a wet space which is directed toward the outside of the body, and on the other hand, a dry space which is directed towards the interior of the body. The door lock unit with the mechanical latching elements is generally located in the wet space.
In the prior art (DE 199 44 968 A1) which forms the closest prior art structural units are formed by combining both the electrical inside actuating element and also the mechanical inside actuating element which is used for mechanical redundancy, an electronic control unit and the electrical opening drive into a structural unit which is located completely on the dry space side of the motor vehicle door in a location used for a conventional inside handle for an operator. Via an extended lock mechanism, especially a Bowden cable which runs in the dry space and which is then routed through the partition into the wet space, this structural unit is connected to a door lock unit which is located on the edge of the motor vehicle door and which contains only the mechanical latching elements. In this prior art, as in all other sources for the prior art for motor vehicle locking systems with electric locks, the mechanical inside actuating element which is used for redundancy (inside door handle) is located a conventional site on the inside of the motor vehicle door in an easily reached grasping and viewing area of a person who is located in the interior.
In the above explained prior art, for further simplification of the construction, there is another unit by which the mechanical outside actuating element and the electrical outside actuating element are combined with the purely mechanical door lock unit into a unit which is mounted on the edge side of the motor vehicle door where it is accessible from the outside. Therefore, ultimately there is a unit in the dry space where the mechanical inside actuating element (inside door handle) properly has its space, and a unit in the wet space where the door lock unit must necessarily find its space, but is integrated here with the mechanical outside actuating element.